Many of these candidates are showing that they just don’t have what it takes to be fiscally responsible when there is pressure on them. Huckabee is only the most recent Republican to wilt in the spotlight:

Less than a month after a huge upset victory, and promises that fundraising would be ramped up, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is asking his senior staff to keep working for him without pay, while lower level campaign staff are seeing their salaries cut dramatically or eliminated altogether.

“The goal is to get a leaner, meaner campaign structure moving into Super Tuesday,” says a senior campaign adviser.

But many of those being asked to take the cut are refusing, and walking away, leaving the campaign with holes to fill.

Rudy Giuliani recently asked his staff to go without pay, also.

Let us not forget that only two short months ago John McCain had to resurrect his campaign with the help of bank loans. That’s right, he is so fiscally irresponsible that his campaign went completely broke. From November 9th:

Republican John McCain, climbing in polls but lagging in money, is negotiating a $3 million loan while some of his backers launch an independent advertising effort seemingly at odds with his years of fighting outside influence in campaigns.

and,

Campaign aides said they hoped to finalize arrangements within days for a line of credit of about $3 million to help pay for expenses as well as for ads, mailings and other means of voter contact. The campaign also is considering taking public matching funds, but some aides fear the attached spending limits could hinder McCain if he does secure the nomination.

Fred Thompson, unfortunately, did not have much of an opportunity to show us his money-handling abilities because he got in the race late and appears to be getting out early.

Mitt Romney shouldn’t be trusted with your money. He has been able to stay in the race by spending as much money as he wants and without paying attention to any sort of budget. How does he do this? In case you missed it, he writes himself big checks:

In the first nine months of 2007, Romney, who made a fortune in private business, contributed roughly $17 million dollars to his own campaign. He has spent at least $7 million of that figure in Iowa on a massive media campaign that includes a barrage of attack ads against his chief rival, former governor Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesperson, claims the former Massachusetts governor “does not know how much” he gave in the last three months of the year.

He doesn’t even bother to remember the numbers. He just spends. How fiscally conservative is that? Romney is certainly not the man I want trying to fix our national deficit.

Actually, there is only one man I want trying to fix our national deficit. He is the only candidate who has run his campaign in a manner befitting the position of President of the United States. As recently as January 16th Ron Paul still had $8 Million in the bank from an impressive 4th quarter haul expected to outstrip every other Republican candidate. He has since raised $3.25 Million in addition to that.

The choice is clear. Ron Paul has never voted for a tax increase, he has never voted for an unbalanced budget, he has been named the Taxpayer’s Best Friend year after year, he has written six books on economics, he is the only candidate who sits on the Joint Finance Committee in Congress, and he has predicted the current economic recession for years, although virtually no one listened.

Maybe it’s time they did.